The present invention relates to a system for assisting World Wide Web users in registering at World Wide Web web sites. In particular, the present invention provides storage and access to web site registration information provided by a user of the present invention so that, upon requesting to register at a web site that cooperates with the present invention, the user can request his/her web site registration information stored by the present invention to be transmitted to the cooperating web site.
The World Wide Web (WWW) is a global communications network having a client-server model as a paradigm for communications. That is, users on client nodes utilizing so called xe2x80x9cweb browsersxe2x80x9d navigate the WWW to access desired server nodes (known as web sites) for at least obtaining information from the server nodes such as hypertext, audio, video, virtual reality, data, etc. For many web sites, it is important to those responsible for the design and maintenance of the web sites that they be capable of accurately measuring both the number and types of users accessing their web sites. In particular, such measurements may be important in determining fees that can be charged by web site developers for building and maintaining a web site. Further, such information may be useful in determining the degree of interest in services and products by web site users. Thus, in order to obtain these web site measurements, such web sites have begun requesting that each user provide information about himself/herself prior to the web site allowing access to web site services. That is, such web sites require a user to xe2x80x9cregisterxe2x80x9d at the web site, wherein the user is required to establish a user identification (user ID) and optionally a password with the web site as well as typically provide personal information such as, for example, the city of residence or family size. However, registering at multiple web sites is burdensome for users in that it is: (a) time consuming, and (b) the user is likely to have different user IDs at different web sites, thus requiring a user to maintain a list of user IDs (and optionally passwords) for the web sites to which he/she is registered.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to alleviate many of the above difficulties by automating the registration process at web sites so that users may register at a single web site and use the information provided at this web site to more easily register at other web sites.
The present invention is a registration information processing system for the World Wide Web that substantially automates the user registration process at web sites. The registration system of the present invention includes a World Wide Web registration web site wherein a user accessing the World Wide Web can utilize this web site as a repository for registration information so that the user can request this registration information to be transmitted substantially automatically to another web site to which the user desires to register. Furthermore, the present invention provides the user with a common user ID, and optionally common password, that can be used to access a plurality of web sites so that there are fewer web site user IDs and passwords for the user to remember. Additionally, the present invention may establish the common user ID (and optionally password) through user input such that the user may request a candidate user ID (and optionally password) and, if acceptable, the candidate user ID becomes the common user ID. However, if the candidate user ID is unacceptable (e.g., because it is a duplicate of another user""s common user ID), then the present invention provides the user with one or more alternatives for the common user ID (and optionally password) that the user may accept or reject. Further, note that whenever possible the present invention provides the user with alternative common user IDs wherein the alternatives are derived from the candidate user ID provided by the user.
The registration information processing system of the present invention has a first embodiment using a first system architecture wherein a user need not have any modules specific to the present invention loaded on his/her World Wide Web client node. In this embodiment, once the user has provided registration information to the registration web site of the present invention, when the user subsequently requests to register at a new web site cooperating with the registration process of the present invention, then the user provides this new web site with a user ID and optionally password (e.g., the above-mentioned common user ID) for the registration web site of the present invention together with an indication that any further information way be obtained from the registration web site. The new web site subsequently is able to automatically retrieve the users registration information from the registration web site and register the user at the new web site.
In a second embodiment of the present invention having a second architecture, World Wide Web client nodes have registration modules for the present invention loaded on them so that these nodes may interact with the registration web site for providing user registration information to cooperating web sites to which the user requests to register. In this second embodiment of the present invention, the user""s registration information is stored both locally on the user""s client node and at the registration web site, the web site being used as a backup. Thus, when the user desires to register at a new web site, the user""s registration information is provided to the web site from the registration module residing on the user""s client node.
In either embodiment, the present invention may also provide a xe2x80x9cmassxe2x80x9d registration capability, wherein a user may request that the present invention automatically register the user at a plurality of web sites. For example, the user may be provided with a capability to search for web sites cooperating with the present invention by, for example, category and request an automatic registration at multiple web sites substantially simultaneously.
Other features and benefits of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description with the accompanying figures contained hereinafter.